Bourses trade in green in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade in green in late afternoon session led by gains in IT sector stocks.  The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with gains of over half a percent. Traders took support as private report said that government is likely to increase subsidies on rural housing in the upcoming Budget 2024 by up to 50 percent from the previous year to more than $6.5 billion. The move comes amid rural distress, spurred by higher food inflation and sluggish growth in farmers' incomes. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid fresh signs of a weakening U.S. economy revived hopes of interest rate cuts sooner rather than later. European markets were trading higher as softer-than-expected U.S. economic data fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve could slash interest rates in September.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80162.99, up by 176.19 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 80052.34 and 80392.64. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.39%, TECK up by 1.30%, Healthcare up by 1.26%, Telecom up by 0.87% and PSU was up by 0.80%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.10% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 3.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.37%, Sun Pharma up by 2.29%, TCS up by 1.65% and Infosys up by 1.64%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.11%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.67%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.28%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.00% and Indusind Bank down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, acknowledging the higher resilience and strength of the banking sector, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das has asked banks to further strengthen the governance standards, risk management practices and compliance culture.

RBI governor also urged them to step up efforts against 'mule accounts' and also intensify customer awareness and education initiatives, among other measures, to curb digital frauds. He also emphasised the need for banks to ensure robust cybersecurity controls and effectively manage third-party risks.

As part of the RBI's continuous engagement with the senior management of its regulated entities, Das held meetings with the managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of public sector banks and select private banks. Persisting gap between credit and deposit growth; liquidity risk management and ALM-related issues; and trends in unsecured retail lending were among the issues which were discussed at length. Cybersecurity, third-party risks, and digital frauds; strengthening of assurance functions; credit flows to MSMEs; increasing the usage of Indian Rupee for cross-border transactions; and banks' participation in innovation initiatives of the Reserve Bank too were discussed in detail.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24335.95, up by 49.45 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 24300.35 and 24401.00. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 3.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.43%, Sun Pharma up by 2.11%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.69% and Infosys up by 1.69%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.16%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.81%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.53%, Wipro down by 1.35% and Adani Enterprises down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 350.1 points or 1.49% to 23,522.53, Nikkei 225 surged 332.89 points or 0.81% to 40,913.65, Hang Seng advanced 49.71 points or 0.28% to 18,028.28, KOSPI increased 30.93 points or 1.09% to 2,824.94, Jakarta Composite gained 29.38 points or 0.41% to 7,226.14 and Straits Times was up by 22.13 points or 0.65% to 3,437.64. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 24.81 points or 0.83% to 2,957.57.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 58.66 points or 0.72% to 8,229.78, France’s CAC rose 53.01 points or 0.69% to 7,685.09 and Germany’s DAX was up by 61.75 points or 0.34% to 18,436.28.